Careful, Coaches: In New NFL, Someone May Be Listening

Integrity of the game dialogue often focuses on player conduct. But several NFL coaches and executives enter the 2009 season with wider inspection practices and more paranoid eyes.

Growing, probing technology is causing some in the league to consider if cheating is reaching unprecedented sophistication. They are on guard. They are insistent that NFL leadership be as vigilant.

This goes beyond old-school and novel concerns. They know that some teams hire personnel to scour the hotel rooms of visiting teams' coaches and players and postgame locker rooms in search of any scrap of game-planning that can be pilfered -- They can beat that. It has little to do with opponents continuously seeking ways to survey sideline coaches in hopes of cracking their signals and intended personnel groupings -- They can outsmart them there.

Even familiar charges of artificial crowd noise pumped into stadiums are relatively tame compared with the type of cheating that new technology can provide. So, too, are fresher concerns that some teams are focusing cameras on quarterbacks during his calls at the line of scrimmage, playing the images on jumbo, in-stadium screens, and seeking an advantage for the defense whether instant or later after analysis.

How about home teams showing replays of controversial calls instantly and repeatedly when they work to their advantage -- and never showing them when they do not?

None of this alarms NFL coaches and executives as much as this issue: Are communications involving coaches' headsets and those involving players' in-helmet radios being intercepted by opposing teams?

Some coaches and executives say they have heard enough cracking sounds, enough interference, enough odd feedback and experienced enough times when the technology simply did not work that they believe this issue is a paramount one that must constantly be examined in the 2009 season and beyond.

"I know the league has spent millions on it, monitoring it, investing in it, investigating it, but some coaches are still leery,'' Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said.

Former NFL coach Marty Schottehemier said: "I haven't coached in the league in four years. And four years ago, there was talk about stuff being intercepted in stadiums. We never knew if it was a team or someone else just curious. It was a topic brought up then. I'm not surprised it would be an increased concern now.''

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft added: "We have experienced problems in certain stadiums. We were told it was a frequency situation. I have heard that has been an issue in some places that could go beyond that.''

And this from Giants general manager Jerry Reese:

"If we can send a man to the moon, I guarantee you someone can figure out how to intercept a transmission to a helmet. But I believe that 95 percent of this league wants to beat you fair and square. I know I couldn't feel good, wouldn't even want to win and be a part of that, and I believe most people in this league are that way. There is always, though, the 5 percent.''

To which an NFL assistant coach responded, requesting anonymity: "I would go that 95 percent want to win by any means necessary and 5 percent want to do it right. That is how competitive it is. We have had situations where it's third-and-2 and the radio goes out. We are screaming in plays. We've lost timeouts because of it. That can be a huge advantage. I know they have to turn their radios off, too, when that happens, but when it's third-and-2 and that happens and you're punting next, you don't get that back. In some places it happens like that. Key moments. Critical situations.''

Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith said his team has experienced similar road troubles.

"Radio frequency and those issues become more difficult each year,'' Smith said. "The more elaborate stadiums have more frequency issues. We try to pin-point any problems in our stadium. It's an on-going deal. We have been on the road at certain places and there is a problem. We bring our headsets back and check them. No problem there. People are always going to push the envelope, and then it becomes an individual choice and shows what you are made of. You contact the league, you report these things and you trust their expertise.''

And you keep your eyes and ears tuned.

An NFL executive explained it this way: The league, the competition is all about cat-and-mouse tactics and teams had better have more cats than mice "because the last time I checked, the cat usually thumps the mouse.''

An NFL head coach and a personnel executive shared a similar thought: Both are simply waiting for the day when a coach instructs a play via the radio helmet and a voice responds, "Uh, could you repeat that again?'' -- and it is not the player.

Ray Anderson, the league's vice president of football operations, said no one can guarantee that it will not happen.

"Eavesdroppers and evildoers among teams and coaches always has been and always will be,'' Anderson said. "And just talk to the military about their ability to communicate on the battlefield and you know the technology exists. We feel very confident that very little, if any, of that goes on. It is still a part of our responsibility to detect it. And we will. Sometimes the frequency just goes out, it's not necessarily someone trying to steal. But we have made the rules and policies clear. This is regular business now under commissioner [Roger] Goodell and this office. There is accountability. You do this kind of thing in this frequency area and the options are suspensions, draft choices lost and expulsion from the league if needed. Integrity is first and foremost. Anyone who wants to challenge that will do so at serious costs.

"We do spot checks at stadiums. Coaches rooms, locker rooms, medical rooms, utility closets are among the places where we send in very sophisticated crews and sweep with very little notice. We've covered it. We are comfortable -- but not too comfortable.''

After "Spygate'' singed the start of the 2007 season, how could the league be otherwise?

Patriots coach Bill Belichick's practice of taping opposing coaches' signals and building a library of those tapes cost him $500,000 in fines and the franchise a $250,000 fine and 2008 first-round draft choice.

"If we can send a man to the moon, I guarantee you someone can figure out how to intercept a transmission to a helmet."
-- Giants GM Jerry ReeseThere is little doubt that NFL coaching and executive concerns over headset and helmet radio intercepts are intensified by that experience.

"I think that in these difficult economic times, the public is going through real and difficult financial and social situations,'' Kraft said "They are looking to spend some free time in diversion and entertainment. They want a league with teams and players in which they will not be emotionally disappointed. This is where integrity of the game is crucial.

"I think Roger Goodell is doing an outstanding job trying to keep this game at a high level. And that is what we are trying to do with the Patriots. Not just on the field but off the field. It's what the American people want.''

Kraft was asked about his lasting view of 'Spygate'' and its effect.

"The facts are that this thing got blown way out of proportion,'' he said "We went 16-0 after that. We went 18-0 and lost the Super Bowl. We then lost our star quarterback and still won 11 games. We have a good system and good people in place. I'm very proud of the way things are done here. We strive to be the best. We're a target. People are always shooting for us. I thought the penalties for it were probably more than they should have been. But it goes back to the integrity of the game. It was sending a statement to everyone.''

Many NFL coaches and executives trust the system and the league's checks and balances. They will put neither time nor energy into potential cheats. They will focus on competing and winning.

It is clear, however, that others competing in the NFL anticipate an eventual "integrity'' shoe to drop that will involve intercepted transmissions from coaches headsets and helmet radios.